Thursday, October 26, 2006

Halloween Mix Part 20 - Leo Graham's Voodooism

Leo Graham was originally a member of the harmony trio the Bleechers. The Bleechers cut a bunch of tracks for Lee Perry in the late 60’s and early 70’s and scored big with their hit song "Check Him Out" which happens to appear on numerous Scratch production compilations. "Check Him Out" served as a singing advertisement complete with directions, to a shop that Perry owned on Charles Street in Kingston. When the band split up Leo Graham remained with Perry at the Black Ark as a solo singer and continued to record with some minor success. Graham allegedly left the music business altogether at the dawn of the dancehall era in the early 80’s and hasn’t recorded since.

The next track in the Halloween Spooktacular is coming from the man Leo Graham and it's called "Voodooism" which was originally released as a 7" on the Black Art label in 1974. I’m sure you’ll agree that with the strong lyrics and the trademark Lee Perry sound this makes for an absolutely wicked track! I of course would kill to own any original Jamaican Upsetter vinyl but finances being what they are I’ve learned to just be satisfied when they’re eventually released on CD. This is the title track from a fantastic Scratch compilation on the Pressure Sounds label that I recommend highly!

Here it is… we’re only one away from the completed mix! To be honest with you I’m actually getting a little sad now that October is drawing to a close. Maybe I’ll just continue the Halloween mixes all year long and post a spooky song every day! I’m kidding!! This has been a lot of fun but it has also been as rough as holding down a second job. After Halloween I think I’m going to take some time off! See you tomorrow!

4 comments:

You've earned it (time off). I'm in the process of moving and am internetless at home for a while... please leave these files up for a while if you can, i only got 10 of them downloaded before i got run off the information superhighway. thanks for all the work you put into em... they're great.

there is a new podcast episode up at blackmagicplastic. about 20 minutes of early dancehall, etc. hope you have a chance to check it out...

I, since we've only got one more track to go I guess I can let the cat out of the bag... I'm going to upload the entire 1 hour + mix for those who haven't been able to keep up with all the individual tracks. I've also got another trick up my sleeve come Halloween morning for all those who frequent the blog so be sure to check back!